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Gaming disorder is now classified as a mental health condition

Posted on Tuesday, June 19, 2018 by Kristina Tyler

Dr. Mark Griffiths, who has been researching the concept of video gaming disorder for 30 years, said the new classification would help legitimize the problem and strengthen treatment strategies.

The wording of the new entries has been known since January, when the World Health Organization announced problem gaming would be recognised as a pathological condition. The agency and other experts were quick to note that cases of the condition are still very rare, with no more than up to 3 per cent of all gamers believed to be affected.

WHO will be notifying governments that they'll be expected to add gaming disorder to their public health systems. Many of people on social media have said how stupid this is to have an addiction for gaming.

One of the consequences is that doctors will be able to treat patients for the condition and health care organizations or governments can pay for that treatment.

Studies show that brain activity for certain people who excessively play video games is similar to the way drug addicts are triggered. The new ICD-11 also reflects progress in medicine and advances in scientific understanding.

Jen MacLean, executive director of the International Game Developers Association, said in a blog post in January that the classification poses threats to game developers and it is "so broad as to cover nearly every person who's ever played "just one more turn" of an wonderful game, or who prioritizes games as their first choice of hobby or entertainment".

UKIE already has their own FAQ up about the issue, which explains the controversy and the genuine disagreement in academic circles as to whether gaming addiction counts as a separate disorder. Dr Sameer Malhotra, director- mental health and behavioural sciences at Max Healthcare says increasing screen time is leading to lack of human interaction, low emotional connection between children and adults because each one hooked on to the virtual worlds.

In its latest revision to an global disease classification manual, the United Nations health agency said Monday that classifying "Gaming Disorder" as a separate condition will "serve a public health objective for countries to be better prepared to identify this issue".